October, 2009 | The Angel Forever

Monthly Archives October 2009

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Crazy Love by Michael Bublé

Posted on October 12, 2009 2:16 pm by TheAngelForever

Flash back to the fall of 2005. I was sitting in the computer lab one afternoon working on a project with some other teachers. There was a CD on and it really caught my attention. I asked what it was and was told it was Michael Bublé. As the mother of a then two year old, I was quite out of the adult music loop. All I knew was that the songs were wonderful, Bublé’s voice calming, and I was in love with everything about it. I talked about it so much that my husband bought me the It’s Time CD for my birthday. I would often sit there listening to it over and over as I wrote lesson plans. My favorite song was Home which brought chills down my spine.

Recently, I was asked by One2One Network to review a copy of Michael Bublé’s new CD Crazy Love. I immediately jumped at the opportunity. The CD arrived just before the release date October 9. I immediately opened the box and popped it into my laptop to listen to. Within seconds, I was transported. I was singing away to the music along with Michael Bublé. For a short time, I was able to escape from the reality and stresses of life.

Crazy Love includes the following tracks:

1. Cry Me A River
2. All Of Me
3. Georgia On My Mind
4. Crazy Love
5. Haven’t Met You Yet
6. All I Do Is Dream Of You
7. Hold On
8. Heartache Tonight
9. You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You
10. Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)
11. At This Moment
12. Stardust
13. Whatever It Takes (bonus track)

My Review:

I truly believe that Michael Bublé could be the new Frank Sinatra. His sweet voice just soothes you as you listen to him belt out song after song. His style transforms classic covers from other artists into his own genuine versions. The CD begins with "Cry Me A River" where you could almost imagine the entire orchestra playing behind Michael Bublé. The instrumentals are powerful and Bublé’s voice keeps up with each and every beat. The classic "Georgia On My Mind" has a new twist thanks to Michael Bublé. As beautiful as the song was when sung by Ray Charles and countless others, it has a new presence thanks to Bublé and the subtle tempo changes.

Another favorite of mine is the title track "Crazy Love" which was originally performed by Van Morrison. This song immediately made me recall the movie She’s Having a Baby where the song was featured, along with General Hospital. Even my boys liked this song and came to dance along with it.

The first original single from this album released is "Haven’t Met You Yet" which really shows the artistry of Michael Bublé. Here is the video of this song for you to see. Sit back, relax and enjoy watching Bublé and his amazing talent.

I know that I will continue to enjoy Crazy Love and other music from Michael Bublé as he continues on his successful singing career. These classic songs will play while I work on writing, reading and knitting because they help me to stay focused and relaxed. Crazy Love is now available to purchase where all CDs are sold. Of course, if you are a fan and on Facebook head over to the Michael Bublé fan page.

Thank you again to One2One Network for providing me with the opportunity to review this fabulous new CD.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of the CD to do this review with no other compensation. The opinions expressed in the review are my own.

Categories:
Music Product review video

2:00 AM Tamiflu call

Posted on October 11, 2009 11:50 am by TheAngelForever

Monday morning I went to the doctor to get my lungs checked. I was really having a tough time with my asthma thanks to the illness from the previous week. The doctor said that she was 99% sure I had the flu, likely H1N1. Of course, I expressed my concern about hubby and the boys getting what I had. She was worried about NHL because he also has asthma, but particularly worried about JSL due to his febrile seizure tendencies. She told me that she was going to grab his chart and give me a prescription for Tamiflu to have on hand. She said the minute he got a fever and started having my symptoms to get the script filled.

Tuesday night hubby was not feeling so great, but still no fevers. The little guy fell asleep peacefully in my bed.

JL and I kept going in to check on the little guy because he was super restless. We would find him at one end of the crib and then the other. It dawned on me that we had to check his temperature. Just before midnight he stirred again and was cool. A little before 2:00, JL heard horrible breathing noises on the monitor. He went into the boys room and JSL not only sounded horrible, but was burning up. We quickly took his temperature to confirm that he had a fever.

I went to the computer to find a 24 hour pharmacy that had Tamiflu suspension since we had the prescription. I finally found one and my parents were lifesavers and went to get the script. At about 3:00 JSL received his first dose of Tamiflu. About 30 minutes later he was making horrible sounds again. We ran him into the bathroom just in time to well toss his cookies. This happened again about 30 minutes as he was almost asleep. The poor kid had so much mucous he could not stop gagging and threw up.

Thank goodness the next dose of Tamiflu went much better. We did it on a full stomach, with mucous medicine in him and everything stayed put. Two days later JSL’s fever went away and by Friday his nose was hardly leaking anymore (just red like Rudolph). Last night he was happy and running around before bed. At about 9:30 we heard horrible barking sound and gasps for air coming from the boys room. It was JSL and he was trying to sleep through it. We brought him into our bed to prop him up more and tried to keep him comfortable. At 3:00 in the morning he was really bad. It was time to see if a steam room treatment would help. It worked nicely and he slept breathing much more comfortably until 8:30.

This morning he is breathless, like I was Monday when I went to the doctor, and has the barking cough. We put in a call for the doctor to see if we should try nebulizer treatments or something else. Meanwhile the little guy is super cuddly.

Hopefully we can do something today to make him breathe easier and not have another horrible night.

Categories:
jsl looking back photos sick kid sleep

Yoplait Delights Winner

Posted on October 10, 2009 10:29 am by TheAngelForever

Thank you to everyone that entered my Yoplait Delights gift pack giveaway. This morning I used Random.org to get an entry number for the prize

Heidi now has until Tuesday (10-13 because of the holiday weekend) to respond to my e-mail with her information for prize delivery or the next person will be notified. Stay tuned because another fun giveaway is coming very soon.

Categories:
giveaway web fun

Words . . . whatever

Posted on October 9, 2009 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

While watching the morning news Thursday morning, they mentioned results from a recent Marist College Poll. This particular poll asked people what word/phrase they find most annoying.

Perhaps some of you may say "Whatever. . . who really cares?"

Well, you just might be onto something. According to the Marist College Poll, the results found the following to the annoying word/phrase question:

Chances are it was “whatever.” In a recent Marist poll, nearly half of Americans – 47% – said they find “whatever” most annoying. The other sayings weren’t quite so loathed. 25% say they find “you know” most grating; 11% can’t stand “it is what it is”; 7% would like to ban “anyway” from all verbal exchanges; and 2% reported that they could do without hearing “at the end of the day.”

You can view the results of the poll with an even bigger breakdown by region, education, age, income, and race here. While I was checking out information on the poll, I also found this interesting editorial by John Hopkins in the Tonawanda News. Mr. Hopkins writes about a lot about whatever and his feelings.

So with all of the above in mind, my Aloha Friday question this week is:

What word or phrase do you find most annoying and why? Feel free to think of some other ones that bother you, but if it is one mentioned in the Marist Poll please explain.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the MckLinky there if you are participating.

Aloha #69

Categories:
Aloha Friday interesting real world news

Wiggly Waffle on Sprout

Posted on October 8, 2009 10:03 am by TheAngelForever

A few weeks ago, I got up early and went to stand at the box office to get tickets for a concert. No, it was not to see Billy Joel, Five For Fighting or Bon Jovi. These tickets were for a family event. Once again, we are going to see The Wiggles!!

We are huge fans of The Wiggles. We have been watching them for over five years now. We have not only been to two concerts, but last year we sat in the front row of the show.

This year, we are taking the newest Wiggles addict in our family. JSL will finally be able to see The Wiggles live and he has no clue what to expect. He has only seen the show at Wiggles World in the Six Flags park near us.

Of course, NHL grew up watching The Wiggles on Playhouse Disney. Did you know that The Wiggles have a new television home in the United States?

Not only are The Wiggles on Sprout, but they have a new show that is on weekday mornings from 6-9 on Sprout. Sadly, our cable company (Time Warner) does not provide us with Sprout. We have been asking for it for many years now, but still have not been able to get it. Of course, with The Wiggles move to Sprout I am once again starting my crusade to get this cable station added in our area. I not only went to WigglesPlease.com, I am also planning to call my Time Warner Cable to make the request again.

When I was asked by Family Review Network to help to get the word out about The Wiggles moving to Sprout I jumped at the opportunity. We were also told about Sprout being on Facebook. If you are on Facebook head on over to check out the Wigglemania Facebook Contest.

In addition to helping to get the word out about The Wiggles new television home, we were also sent a DVD to review. When the DVD arrived my little Wiggles fans were eager to check it out. We received The Wiggles Present: Dorothy The Dinosaur. As you can see, we are no strangers to Wiggles DVDs.

The Wiggles Presents: Dorothy the Dinosaur is different from other Wiggles DVDs that we own. This DVD takes us to Rosy Town where we meet up with Dorothy the Dinosaur. Dorothy begins by showing us her book that is filled with some of her wonderful memories. As she turns the pages of her memory book we are transported into her past. We get to sing and dance along with Dorothy, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octapus, Captain Feathersword and special guests that include Francis Awaritefe, Rachel Beck, Troy Cassar-Daley, Kathy Gothadjaka, David Hobson, Jane Kennedy, John Rowe, Leo Sayer and Don Spencer.

Some of The Wiggles Songs included on this DVD are:

Balla Balla Bambina
C’est Wags, C’est Bon
Come On Let’s Jump
I Look in the Mirror
I’m Dorothy the Dinosaur
I’m the Postman
Lettuce Sing (Fresh Fruit and Vegies)
Say Aah at the Doctors
Vegetable Soup

10 other songs are also included on the DVD along with the following Special Features:

The Wiggles Jukebox – The Band Sings and Plays Some of Their All-Time Best Songs
Join The Wiggles for Wash Your Hands – UNICEF’s official song for Global Handwashing Day
Two Bonus Episodes from Dorothy the Dinosaur’s TV Series
Photo Gallery

What our Wiggles fans thought:

NHL (6): He liked the songs that were included. He immediately got up and danced along with Dorothy. When the DVD was over he asked where Sam, Anthony, Murray and Jeff were. Being older he is used to the more traditional Wiggles DVDs where they are front and center in the production.

JSL (2): As a newer Wiggles ~~addict~~ fan, the little guy asked to watch it again when it was over. He loved dancing and singing along to several songs that he recognized. After watching it a few times he now sings along with everything and especially love the song featuring Leo Sayer who is also in the You Make Me Feel Like Dancing DVD that we already owned.

Parent View: We could appreciate the brave move to try something different. Putting the spotlight onto Dorothy and seeing her memories in song/dance was a nice change. As always, we love the educational push that all Wiggles DVDs have in them. There is a lot for children of all ages to learn from watching this DVD.

There is no doubt that our Wiggles DVD collection will continue to grow. Look for new Wiggles concert photos coming in about a month when we take JSL to his first live Wiggles event with Sam, Anthony, Murray, Jeff, Captain Feathersword, The Wiggle Dancers, Dorothy, Henry and Wags.

If you have Sprout, know that we are extremely jealous of you and please be sure to tune in and watch Wiggly Waffle each weekday morning. For now the boys and I will continue to watch our Wiggles DVD collection and play on The Wiggles area on Sprout Online.

Disclosure: This post was written as part of a program for Family Review Network and Sprout Television, who provided the DVD for review.